Uranium Enrichment & Fuel Cycle

The vendor providing paramilitary security for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina received its second four-month contract extension this week, keeping it on the job at least through June 7. The option with DOE was signed Thursday, Suzanne Piner, a spokeswoman for Centerra Group parent company Constellis, said by email. […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week cited a Westinghouse fuel facility in South Carolina with two violations of federal nuclear rules, but details were scarce this week. The two Severity Level IV violations were identified in an inspection of the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF) from Nov. 18-21, 2019, according to a Jan. 10 […]

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week cited a Westinghouse fuel facility in South Carolina with two violations of federal nuclear rules, but details were scarce this week. The two Severity Level IV violations were identified in an inspection of the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF) from Nov. 18-21, 2019, according to a Jan. 10 […]

The National Nuclear Security Administration will postpone by months its decision about which of two technologies will power the next U.S. defense-uranium enrichment facility. “NNSA recently notified Congress that it intends to complete its Analysis of Alternatives for supply of unobligated enriched uranium by mid-to-late FY2020,” an agency spokesperson wrote in a Thursday email, responding […]

If the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) still plans to select its preferred technology for the nation’s next domestic uranium enrichment plant by the end of 2019, the agency is taking the decision down to the last few hours of the year. It was around this time of year in 2016 that the semiautonomous […]

Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve) has received a three-year contract potentially worth more than $2.3 million to support construction by Centrus Energy of a 16-machine uranium enrichment cascade at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio. Under the pact, which will employ the equivalent of 2.5 full-time employees, Pro2Serve, of Oak Ridge, Tenn., […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office wants the Department of Energy to fulfill a 2007 pledge to manage three former uranium enrichment plants in an integrated manner. The DOE Office of Environmental Management is supervising cleanup of retired facilities in Piketon, Ohio, Paducah, Ky., and Oak Ridge, Tenn., as three independent sites, which is costly and […]

The U.S. Government Accountability Office wants the Department of Energy to fulfill a 2007 pledge to manage three former uranium enrichment plants in an integrated manner. The DOE Office of Environmental Management is supervising cleanup of retired facilities in Piketon, Ohio, Paducah, Ky., and Oak Ridge, Tenn., as three independent sites, which is costly and […]

Professional Project Services has received a three-year contract potentially worth more than $2.3 million to support construction by Centrus Energy of a 16-machine uranium enrichment cascade at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Portsmouth Site near Piketon, Ohio. Under the pact, which will employ the equivalent of 2.5 full-time employees, Professional Project Services (Pro2Serve), of Oak […]

Members are Congress are keeping the pressure on the Department of Energy to explain why it gave Centrus Energy Corp. a sole-source contract to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel using a brand new, domestic-built cascade. Senators pressed now-Secretary of Energy Dan Brouillette for details during the latter’s confirmation process, which wrapped up successfully last week […]

Workers at Westinghouse Electric’s Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility (CFFF) in South Carolina violated federal safety codes in September when they shipped contaminated barrels of uranium hexafluoride to Washington state, adding to the growing list of safety issues that have plagued the plant in recent years. The incident resulted in a Level IV violation from the […]

The U.S. Senate will vote Dec. 2, its first day back in Washington after Thanksgiving holiday break, on Dan Brouillette’s nomination to head the U.S. Department of Energy. The floor vote should occur around 5:30 p.m. ET that day, according to a Thursday Twitter post by the Senate’s Republican majority staff. Earlier Thursday, the Senate […]

Just over six years after the last U.S.-built uranium enrichment centrifuge closed down, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is poised to take a milestone step: choosing a technology to power the next domestic, defense-uranium-enrichment cascade. It’s a major, if preliminary, step toward a world in which the United States no longer relies on the […]

A multinational medical isotope company jumped the gun in demanding that the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) “show cause” against termination of its application for a federal license to export weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a lawyer for the agency. In any case, the argument laid out by Curium has no merit, NNSA […]

A multinational medical isotope company jumped the gun in demanding that the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) “show cause” against termination of its application for a federal license to export weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a lawyer for the agency. In any case, the argument laid out by Curium has no merit, NNSA […]

The U.S. Department of Energy should be required to “show cause” why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not dismiss its license application for shipment of weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a company that opposes the request. Failing that, Curium and other parties should be authorized to intervene in the NRC proceeding, according to a […]

The U.S. Department of Energy should be required to “show cause” why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not dismiss its license application for shipment of weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a company that opposes the request. Failing that, Curium and other parties should be authorized to intervene in the NRC proceeding, according to a […]

Senior members of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee this week requested communications between the Department of Energy and Centrus Energy Corp. as part of a bipartisan probe into the award of a sole-source $115 million uranium-enrichment contract. In a nine-page Nov. 13 letter to Energy Secretary Rick Perry and Deputy Energy Secretary Dan […]

The U.S. Department of Energy should be required to “show cause” why the Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not dismiss its license application for shipment of weapon-grade uranium to Europe, according to a company that opposes the request. Failing that, Curium and other parties should be authorized to intervene in the NRC proceeding, according to a […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized a deal for Centrus Energy Corp. to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel for nuclear reactors by building a new all-domestic enrichment cascade — technology that could one day contribute to national defense. The Bethesda, Md.-based company, the former U.S. Enrichment Corp., announced the news this week. The company […]

Even a temporary pause on construction of the Uranium Processing Facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Tennessee could cost the federal government nearly $1 billion, the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said this week in asking a federal judge to refuse a request from a group of environmental organizations for a stop-work […]

Centrus Energy said Tuesday it expects to pay nearly $30 million out of its own pocket to develop a new, made-with-American-parts uranium enrichment cascade for the Department of Energy. Centrus on Monday announced it had finalized a three-year, $115 million contract with DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy to build the 16-machine cascade at the Portsmouth […]

The U.S. Department of Energy has finalized a deal for Centrus Energy Corp. to produce high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel for nuclear reactors by building a new all-domestic enrichment cascade — technology that could one day contribute to national defense. The Bethesda, Md.-based company, the former U.S. Enrichment Corp., announced the news in a press release […]

Environmental groups whose lawsuit forced the U.S. Department of Energy to partially redo an environmental review of its Uranium Processing Facility (UPF) on Monday asked the federal judge who ordered the do-over to halt construction of the next-generation weapons-uranium hub. While she ordered the agency on Sept. 24 to incorporate federal earthquake hazard data into […]

Three workers at a Westinghouse plant in South Carolina were briefly hospitalized last week after reporting an “unusual taste in their mouths” while handling equipment contaminated with hydrofluoric acid. The incident occurred Oct. 14 at the Columbia Fuel Fabrication Facility, according to an Oct. 16 event notification report submitted to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission […]

The U.S. Energy Department has now formally announced plans to keep the three current providers of technical support services for the Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office (PPPO) on the job through June 2020. The agency filed a notice Oct. 10 announcing plans to keep Albuquerque, N.M.-based Strategic Management Solutions Inc. (SMSI) on the job for up to […]

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.—The U.S. Department of Energy is preparing a study that could help determine how to treat contaminated groundwater at the East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP), the former site of uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons and nuclear power reactors. The feasibility study is expected to evaluate technologies that could be used to treat the […]

OAK RIDGE, Tenn.—The U.S. Department of Energy is preparing a study that could help determine how to treat contaminated groundwater at the East Tennessee Technology Park, the former site of uranium enrichment for nuclear weapons and nuclear power reactors. The feasibility study is expected to evaluate technologies that could be used to treat the contaminated […]

Centrus Energy Corp. appointed Phillip Strawbridge as its new chief financial officer, the company announced this week. Strawbridge, 64 this year, was most recently an adviser for the mid-market investment firm Court Square Capital, in New York. He was previously chief financial officer for nuclear services firm EnergySolutions,from 2006 to 2010, according to Centrus’ announcement on Monday. […]

Centrus Energy Corp. said Monday it has appointed Phillip Strawbridge as its new chief financial officer. Strawbridge, 64 this year, was most recently an adviser for the mid-market investment firm Court Square Capital, in New York. He was also previously chief financial officer for nuclear services firm EnergySolutions,from 2006 to 2010, according to Centrus’ announcement. Strawbridge led […]